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We
invite you to listen to us on great radio stations
across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network
weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or
you are in an area where you can't hear it- click
here for this morning's Farm news
from Ron Hays on RON.
Let's Check the
Markets!
Today's
First Look:
Ron
on RON Markets as heard on K101
mornings
with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash
Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets
Etc.
Okla
Cash Grain:
Daily
Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported
by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture.
Canola
Prices:
Current
cash price for Canola is $12.25 per bushel-
2012
New Crop contracts for Canola are now available at
$12.40 per bushel- delivered to local
participating elevators that are working with PCOM.
Futures
Wrap:
Our
Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio
Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler-
analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day.
KCBT
Recap:
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap-Two
Pager from the Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all
three U.S. Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on
Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's
market.
Feeder
Cattle Recap:
The
National Daily Feeder & Stocker
Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Slaughter
Cattle Recap:
The
National Daily Slaughter Cattle
Summary- as prepared by the USDA.
TCFA
Feedlot Recap:
Finally,
here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from
the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
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Oklahoma's
Latest Farm and Ranch News
Your
Update from Ron Hays of RON
Tuesday,
March 13,
2012 |
Howdy
Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch
news update.
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Featured Story:
As
drought conditions in southwestern Oklahoma
continue, Oklahoma State University Emeritus
Extension Animal Scientist Glenn Selk says this is
an excellent-if unwanted-opportunity for cattle
producers to fine tune management practices for
future gains.
The hot, dry weather of 2011
across the Southern Plains certainly created a
hardship for commercial cow calf operations that
are short of standing and stored forage. Water
supplies also are limited in many areas. It is
difficult to see a silver-lining to this "lack of
clouds". However, some producers are using this as
an opportunity to tighten the management and
change the genetic makeup in their cow herd.
Culling has been more rigorous in this situation
than in most years. Therefore, this has been an
uninvited opportunity to identify inefficient cows
and remove them from the herd.
Although
some areas of the country are "rebuilding" the cow
herd, (just look at replacement heifers prices for
proof), many in Oklahoma and Texas are limited by
the lack of forage and surface water. Therefore
cattle numbers on native pastures will be kept low
to allow the range condition to improve with the
better rainfall in 2012. (My fingers are crossed,
I knocked on wood, and said another
prayer!)
Rather than
blindly rebuilding numbers in the cow herd, why
not use this as an opportunity to tighten the
management in your cow herd?
To read Glenn Selk's recommendations
for rebuilding drought-busted herds, click
here.
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Sponsor
Spotlight
We
welcome the Oklahoma Energy
Resources Board as a daily
email sponsor- The OERB
voluntarily restores abandoned well sites -
at absolutely no cost to landowners. Since 1994,
they have dedicated more than $66 million to
restoring more than 11,000 orphaned and abandoned
well sites across the state. Their goal is to make
the land beautiful and productive again. To learn
more, click here for their well site
cleanup webpage.
We are pleased to
have American Farmers & Ranchers
Mutual Insurance Company as a
regular sponsor of our daily update. On both
the state and national levels, full-time staff
members serve as a "watchdog" for family
agriculture producers, mutual insurance company
members and life company members. Click here to go to their AFR
website to learn more about
their efforts to serve rural
America! |
Crop
Weather and Progress for the Week Ending March 11,
2012
The
week began with warm and windy weather, but
rainfall the second half of the week cooled down
temperatures with every Mesonet station reporting
measurable precipitation for the past week.
Conditions
of all small grains and canola continued to be
rated mostly good, with 12 percent of wheat and 9
percent of canola rated excellent, respectively.
Wheat jointing was 39 percent complete by Sunday,
17 points ahead of last year, and well ahead of
the five-year average. Canola blooming has begun,
and was seven percent complete by week's
end. Twelve percent of winter wheat was in
excellent condition, 54 percent was in good
condition, 26 percent was listed as fair and only
eight percent was poor or very poor.
Texas
wheat conditions were listed as 43 percent in poor
to very poor categories, 24 percent was good, 24
percent was poor and only nine percent was in
excellent condition.
Forty-five
percent of the the Kansas wheat crop was in good
condition, with 36 percent in fair shape, 11
percent was in poor or very poor condition and
only eight percent was in excellent condition.
Click here for the complete Crop
Weather Update for Oklahoma.
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Boxed
Beef Prices Drop Substantially and Finished Cattle
End Three Dollars Lower
In
this week's beef report, according to Ed Czerwien,
USDA Market News Office in Amarillo, Texas, we saw
the choice cut market drop substantially last week
by $4.25 from the previous week, ending the week
on March 9 at $193.84 cwt. The choice-select
spread ended the week last Friday at less than one
dollar. Just a note on that choice-select spread,
this morning we were upside down with select up
.38 over choice.
The finished cattle trade
for the week ending March 9, we saw lower money in
the cash market. Most sales were at the $127 cwt
mark, a full $3.00 lower than the previous week.
We did see $127 in Kansas for the week and $126 to
$127 in the Texas-Oklahoma area with dressed deals
in the North going for $201 to $202
cwt. The average live weight of
finished cattle in the Texas Panhandle last week
was 1,232 pounds, which was down six pounds from
the previous week.
Check out Ed Czerwien's full audio
report by clicking here.
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Oklahoma
House Approves Legislation to Improve Water
Infrastructure, Planning
Four
pieces of legislation that would pave the way for
better management of water resources in the state
were approved on Monday by the Oklahoma House of
Representatives.
House
Speaker Kris Steele said, "As a
package, these bills lay a solid water policy
foundation that can be built upon for years to
come. Planning for future water needs is a huge
part of being a pro-growth state and is one of the
greatest responsibilities we have today to
Oklahomans of tomorrow. We know that with
effective water management, Oklahoma can have more
than enough water to sustain its growth for
decades to come. I'm proud of my colleagues for
taking this critical first step on an issue of
such high importance to our state."
House
Bill 2914 by state Rep. Phil
Richardson would set up nine regional
planning councils to give local citizens more
input into the management of their water
resources. The 15-member councils are to be
divided up by major surface water basins, major
groundwater basins, prominent water service
territories, county boundaries and existing water
planning areas. State officials would appoint some
members of each council and local officials would
select the remaining appointees.
Click here to read more about these
four important water resource measures which
passed the Oklahoma House.
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First
Grand Champion Selected for OYE Premium Sale-
Grand Goat Shown by Braden Schovanec of Garber FFA
The
second major show day for the Oklahoma Youth Expo
was a busy one, with three species all parading
before several judges. Two champions were named on
Monday, with the first of the market animal
champions selected for the Premium Sale next
Monday (the 19th). The Grand Champion Market Goat
was shown by Braden Schovanec of
the Garber FFA Chapter, after being the winner in
Division three earlier in the
afternoon. The Reserve Grand
Champion Market Goat was the Division One
Champion- shown by Ashton
Heffington of the Dickson 4-H
club.
Over
in Barn 6, the Purebred Gilt show was held- and
hundreds of young people and their hogs paraded
before the judges- when the final selection was
made- it was the Duroc Champion that was called
the Supreme Champion of the 2012 Show. She was
shown by Ashtyn Ayers of the
Oktaha 4-H. The Reserve Supreme Champion Gilt was
the top Yorkshire of the day- shown by
Cole McKinney of the Spiro
FFA.
Results
from the gilt and beef heifers were a little slow
coming out of the office- but we will have them up
for you at the Blue Green Gazette section of our
website later this morning. And- you can click here for our summary of
Day Two of the actual showing of animals at the
OYE- which includes a short audio visit I had with
Bradenabout his lamb.
Finally-
we have already posted almost 300 pictures from
Sunday and Monday on our 2012 OYE photo set on
Flickr- click here for a chance to go and
see some of the finest young people and their
animals to be found anywhere in the state of
Oklahoma.
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Noble
Foundation Scientists Move Closer to Solving
Pasture Bloat Problem
Livestock
love alfalfa. Alfalfa doesn't always love them
back.
As a crop, alfalfa
is worth about $8 billion each year to the United
States economy because of its role in domestic
beef cattle and dairy industries, as well as
exports. Agricultural producers value the legume
because it can grow without nitrogen fertilizer by
virtue of a symbiosis it forms with bacteria
called rhizobia. The bacteria convert atmospheric
nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) that is used for
plant growth.
There's just one problem:
livestock which graze extensively on alfalfa often
develop pasture bloat, a form of severe
indigestion where gas collects in the rumen and
cannot be expelled. Extreme bloat can kill an
animal. Less severe bloat can still reduce weight
gains, lower milk production, reduce feed
efficiency and increase labor costs.
Noble
Foundation researchers have been studying
condensed tannins as a bloat remedy. This
naturally-occurring class of chemical compounds
possesses the ability to reduce bloat in
livestock. Humans may be more familiar with the
role of condensed tannins in red wine, where they
provide the drink's bitter taste.
Tannins
are naturally found in small amounts in the seed
coat of alfalfa. Unfortunately, seeds include only
trace amounts of tannins, and livestock consume
too little of the compound to be effective.
Researchers have been looking at ways to engineer
plants with tannins in the leaves and stems so
animals could ingest much more of these
compounds.
Read more about the Noble
Foundation's tannin research by clicking
here.
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Beef
Industry Voices Sounding Off on 'Pink Slime' Myths
Organizations
representing beef producers are letting their
voices be heard on a controversy which has stirred
up main stream Americans at fast food restaurants
and meat counters across the country.
At
issue is a product called Finely Textured Lean
Beef (FTLB) produced by Beef Products
Incorporated. BPI produces the product by taking
beef trimmings and heating them slightly before
spinning them in a centrifuge to remove fat.
Before being flash frozen and packaged, the FTLB
is exposed to ammonia gas to kill germs, the same
process used when packaging cheese, chocolates,
puddings and baked goods.
An ABC news
report in early March continually referred to the
product as "pink slime" and claims "it is used in
70 percent of the ground beef sold at supermarkets
and up to 25 percent of each American hamburger
patty, by some estimates."
The ABC report,
and others, highlight claims from industry critics
insinuating the product is somehow unsafe or
nutritionally deficient, though never providing
any evidence to support their assertions. The USDA
doesn't require meat labels to indicate FTLB has
been added to ground beef because the product is
100 percent beef.
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God Bless!
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phone: 405-473-6144
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